Visible light communication (VLC) is gaining in popularity for transmission of information in indoor or outdoor locations, for example, from an artificial light source to a mobile device. The example VLC transmission may carry broadband user data, if the mobile device has an optical sensor or detector capable of receiving the high speed modulated light carrying the broadband data. In other examples, the light is modulated at a rate and in a manner detectable by a typical imaging device (e.g. a rolling shutter camera). This later type of VLC communication, for example, supports an estimation of position of the mobile device and/or provides some information about the location of the mobile device. These VLC communication technologies have involved modulation of artificially generated light, for example, by controlling the power applied to the artificial light source(s) within a luminaire to modulate the output of the artificial light source(s) and thus the light output from the luminaire.
VLC is typically used for down-link communication, from a server to a portable or wearable device. Uplink communication channels are usually established using short-range wireless transmitters, such as IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi, IEEE 802.15 Zigbee or Bluetooth short-range radio transmitters or transceivers. These technologies, however, consume power in the portable or wearable device and, thus, reduce the lifetime of its battery.